For two evenings this week, the village of Kainourgio Chorio will return to one of the oldest rhythms of rural Crete: harvesting grapes, carrying them back to the village, and pressing them by foot.
The 14th Trigopatimata, a celebration centered on the traditional grape harvest, takes place on Thursday, August 27, and Saturday, August 29, bringing together winemaking traditions, local food, music, and hands-on cultural experiences.
The annual event has grown into a fixture of the local cultural calendar, but this year’s edition adds a new dimension. For the first time, the organizers are presenting the entire journey from vineyard to table, showing how grapes and grape leaves have traditionally been turned into an unexpectedly wide range of food and drink.
Wine, raki, grape must, petimezi, raisins, liqueurs, agourida, grape jam, spoon sweets, vine leaves and vinegar will all feature in the presentation.
From the Vineyard to the Press
The first evening begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Wine Museum in Kainourgio Chorio, where participants will gather before heading into the vineyards for the harvest.
By 6:30 p.m., the grapes will return to the village and its traditional grape press. The evening’s experiential program will introduce visitors to the vineyard’s products and practices, followed by the official opening at 7 p.m.
At 7:15 p.m., children will take their turn in the traditional grape pressing, keeping alive a ritual that once belonged to the ordinary agricultural life of Cretan villages.
The evening will end with a local-food buffet and traditional treats at 9 p.m.
The participation of cultural groups from the surrounding area is another new element this year. Associations from Aitania and Episkopi, including the women’s association Ergani, will present recipes, preparations, and traditional foods connected with grapes and the vineyard.
Rather than treating the harvest as something preserved behind glass or described in a history book, the event turns it into something visitors can see, taste, and experience.
A Vineyard Tradition With a Wider Story
The idea is particularly fitting for Crete, where grapes have shaped both agriculture and food culture for centuries. The harvest produced far more than wine. Must became petimezi and sweets, grapes were preserved as raisins, leaves became part of the kitchen, and various preparations extended the usefulness of the crop well beyond harvest season.
That wider relationship between vineyard and kitchen is the focus of this year’s event.
The Trigopatimata are also taking place within the framework of the European Region of Gastronomy 2026 and are connected to the Council of Europe’s Iter Vitis – Les Chemins de la Vigne cultural route, placing a small-village celebration within the wider European heritage of viticulture.
From Grapes to a Cretan Night Out
The second evening moves from the vineyard to the village square.
On Saturday, August 29, the celebration begins at 9:30 p.m. with a traditional Cretan music night featuring Michalis Charkiolakis and Giorgos Koudoumiannakis, with lyra, dancing, and the kind of village gathering that needs very little explanation.
The 14th Trigopatimata are part of the Municipality of Hersonissos’ third Arts and Culture Festival and are co-organized by the Educational Development organization Pligos and the Municipality of Hersonissos, with support from the Region of Crete and KOIPODI.
For a tradition that begins with grapes being cut from a vine, the journey is remarkably long. By the end of the weekend, those grapes will have become part of a story about wine, food, memory, music, and the continuing relationship between Cretan communities and the land around them.
